Game



Oct. 2, 1928.

- s. L. HOEXTER GAME Filed 001:. 1 6, 1925 m up BEAVER ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 2, 1928.

UNFTE ES v tern SEYMOUR L. HOEXTER, F CEDARH'URST, NEW YORK.' V

- GAME.

Application filed October is, 1925. Serial No. 62,938.

well known games such as dominoes, Mah

jongg, and'other similar games, thereby con .verting the same into a novel game such as hereinafter explained.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved game apparatus of the character described, comprising 1 simple pieces, which shall be cheap to manufacture,

and practical to a high degree for the purposes specified. d Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed 'out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in'the' construction hereinafter described,'and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the following claim. In the accompanying drawing, in which is shown oneof the various possible illustrative embodiments of this invention,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the game pieces or tiles embodying the invention arranged for starting a game adapted to be played therewith such as hereinafter described;

views showing the arrangement of the pieces at progressive stages of. said game;

Fig. 4 is a plan view showing the faces of the legend or picture tiles; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are plan views showing the faces of tiles arranged to, illustrate their counting value.

Referring in detail to the drawing, 10 denotes a game apparatus embodying the invention which is seen to comprise a plurality of pieces, blocks, or tiles 11 similarly shaped to those used in the game of dominoes, the Chinese game, of four winds, or the like games. Thegame apparatus 10 may include any required number of tiles 11 and'as shown in the drawing, one hundred and forty-four 7 three.

Figs. 2 and 3 are fragmentary perspectiveare used for illustration. These tiles are faced with suitable sets of distinguishable characters, as for example, one set of tenor twelve tiles P bearing a legend, symbol, or picture, or other insignia, as shown in Fig. 4E,

another set of 26 tiles C bearing the letters a of the'alphabet A to Z inclusive in solid type 7 adapted to designate capital letters,,;as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, and a third set comprising the remaining tiles T each having a letter of the alphabet, in outline type, adapted to represent the small letters. k 1

The number of each letter selected to make up thelatter set of tiles T is preferably determined substantially by its relative frequency of occurrence in ordinary writing. It has been found that the satisfactory proportion of the number of vowels to consonant letters used is approximately in the ratio of one to symbols, insignia, or pictures on the tiles P are selected so that they correspondto a large number of nouns; thus a picture of a sail boat shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 corresponds to the words-vessel, boat, ship, sloop, brig, etc.

choosing the person who is to start or leadin playing a game, said-means being here shown to comprise a pair of dice 12. I

Various games may be'played with the tiles Interest in playing games with apparatus'lO is greatly increased if the legends,

"A suitable means may be provided for g 11 and any number of persons may participate. One such game. will now be described for the purposeof illustration.-

The tiles 11 are placed in a heap face down on a table and thoroughly intermingled. The

players who are denoted by X, Y and Z.in

Fig. 1 select twelve tiles each from the heap. The remaining tiles are piled or stacked ,in'

any 'convenientmanner as, by forming a row in front of each player as shown in Fig. 1. The dice 12 are then cast for selecting the leader to start the game. Let it beassumed that X is thus chosen. He then removes two tiles from any part of the stacks, preferably the one nearest him and he hands one tile to each of the other players.

lay the tiles forming said word on the table face up. If he is unable to form any other Words he discards one of his remaining tiles Player X thus has 14: tiles and Y and Z each have 13. X

face up. on the table, thus leaving 13 tiles for player X. If in addition he has a picture tile P which corresponds to the word formed such as one bearing a picture ofaship, he may place it adjacent the word for the purpose ereinafter to appear, as shown in Fig. 3.

Player Y now takes his turn and he may either take the tile discarded by 'X or call for one from the stacked rows so that he has 14 tiles fromfwhich Y proceeds to form words as I described above for X. If no picture tile accompanies the word formed by X, Y may appropriate the word if he can add letters thereto to form another word. The picture tile thus may be made to serve as afguard I and to prevent the other players from ap- Wye. I

pio'priating Xs word S H I P as shown in i i 3. y

' fitter Y] has formed all the words he is "able to", he then discards a tile and Z takes his turn following the successive steps taken by Y a de cl bed'a o s order towin the game, it is necessary for player in his turn to announce thetermination of thefgamegand to have exposed 2. W01 commencing with a capital; letter C (in soli" black;type) ,fan'doneword guarded by a ictfure. In, Fig. 6 is shown a winning hand. E lie score or credits assigned to each player beeomputed in venous manners as for gaoredit count of 20 plus 40 or 60might be a1- ln Fig. 5 is shown exposed words on which lowed; V

Extra countsmayalso be assigned. As for example, double counts may be given the players having more than a single word guarded by a. picture, or more than one Word commenri-ng with a capital letter. Also extra credits may be allowed for words formrng'completo sentences or phrases.

the Chinese game of winds, etc. may be'easily converted into the game apparatus 10 by simply applying to the face side of such tiles appropriate legends, symbols, insignia, or pictures, and the alphabet sets described above.

It will thus be seen that there is provided a device in which the several obj ectsof'this invention are achieved, and which is well adapted to meet the conditions o'fpractical use,

vAs various possible embodiments might be made, of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set f,orth, it is to be understood that all matter herein, set forth or shown in the accompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I,

claiinasnew and de'sireto secure by Letters 1 mm p V A game apparatus of the character described comprising a plurality of pieces, some of said, pieces bearing each. a, letter of the alphabet and. others bearing, symbols other than suchlettersand definable by groupings of said letter bearing pieces.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

SEYMOUR L. HOEXTER. 

